Encrypt Your Files in The Cloud Using Rclone Tutorial Guide

Why Encrypt Your Cloud Files?

Encrypting your files in the cloud adds an extra layer of security and privacy, ensuring that even your cloud storage provider cannot access your data. This guide will walk you through using rclone to set up an end-to-end encrypted cloud drive.

Setting Up Rclone

To start, you need to download and install rclone from the official website. Once installed, you can configure rclone to connect to your cloud storage service.

Configure Rclone:
Open a terminal or command prompt and run:
```
rclone config
```
Follow the prompts to set up your cloud storage service. For example, if you are using OneDrive, you will need to select onedrive from the list of available backends and provide the necessary credentials.
Create an Encrypted Remote:
After setting up your cloud storage remote, you need to create an encrypted remote. This is done by adding a crypt backend that wraps around your existing remote. To do this, run:
```
rclone config
```
and select crypt from the list of available backends. You will be asked to specify the remote to encrypt/decrypt and provide additional details such as file name encryption mode, directory name encryption, password, and salt.

Configuring the Crypt Remote

Specify the Remote:
When configuring the crypt remote, you need to specify the path where the encrypted files will be stored. For example, if you are using OneDrive, you might set it to onedrive:/encrypted.
Encryption Settings:
- File Name Encryption: You can choose whether to encrypt file names. This is usually set to true by default.
- Directory Name Encryption: This option allows you to encrypt directory names as well.
- Password and Salt: The password and optional salt are used to derive the encryption key. It is recommended to generate random strings for both the password and salt. Rclone can generate these for you, and it is advisable to use a strong password (e.g., 256 bits).
Example Configuration:

Here is an example of what your configuration might look like:

[onedrive]
type = onedrive
token = *** JSON CONTAINING ACCESS TOKEN ***
drive_id = *** DRIVE_ID ***
drive_type = personal

[onedrive-crypt]
type = crypt
remote = onedrive:/encrypted
filename_encryption = standard
directory_name_encryption = true
password = *** ENCRYPTED ***
password2 = *** ENCRYPTED ***

Make sure to keep your passwords and salts in a safe place, such as a password manager.

Using the Encrypted Remote

Mounting the Encrypted Drive:
You can mount the encrypted remote to your filesystem, making it easier to interact with your encrypted files. For example:
```
rclone mount onedrive-crypt: R: --network-mode --vfs-cache-mode writes
```
This command mounts the encrypted remote to a drive letter R: on Windows.
Copying Files:
To upload files to the encrypted remote, you can use the copy command. For instance:
```
rclone copy ~/Desktop/Cards onedrive-crypt:/
```
This command copies the Cards directory from your desktop to the encrypted remote.
Listing and Accessing Files:

You can list the contents of the encrypted remote using:

rclone ls onedrive-crypt:/

This will show you the decrypted filenames and contents.

Mass-Encrypting Existing Files

If you have existing files in your cloud storage that you want to encrypt, you need to copy them into the encrypted remote. Here’s how you can do it:

Copy Files to the Encrypted Remote:
Use the copy command to move files from your unencrypted remote to the encrypted one. For example:
```
rclone copy cloud:folder cloud.crypt:folder -vv --dry-run
```
This command copies files from the cloud:folder to the cloud.crypt:folder while showing detailed output and performing a dry run first.
Verify and Delete Original Files:
After copying, verify that the files are correctly encrypted and accessible. Then, you can delete the original unencrypted files from your cloud storage.

Encryption Details

Rclone uses robust encryption methods to ensure your data is secure:

Encryption Algorithm:
Rclone uses the NaCl SecretBox format, which employs XSalsa20 and Poly1305 for encryption and authentication. Each chunk of data is encrypted with a 32-byte (256-bit) key derived from the user password.
Chunking and Padding:
Files are divided into 64 KiB chunks, except for the last chunk, which may be smaller. Each chunk is padded using PKCS#7 to a multiple of 16 bytes before encryption.
File Name Encryption:

File names are encrypted segment by segment, and the path is broken up into / separated strings, which are encrypted individually. This ensures deterministic encryption, meaning the same filename always encrypts to the same thing.

Key Derivation:
Rclone uses scrypt with specific parameters to derive the key material from the user password and optional salt. This makes it impractical to mount a dictionary attack on the encrypted data.

By following these steps and understanding the encryption mechanisms, you can securely store your files in the cloud using rclone.